Teacher charged with animal cruelty found not guilty
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PRESTON — After a two-day trial, a verdict has been reached in the case of a science teacher who fed a puppy to a snapping turtle last year.
A six-person jury found Robert Crosland not guilty of animal cruelty. The jury deliberated for around 30 minutes and delivered their verdict to a courtroom packed with friends, family, students and teachers gathered to support Crosland.
Crosland was accused of animal cruelty for feeding a puppy to the snapping turtle in March 2018.
Throughout the trial, multiple witnesses testified the puppy was alive when it was fed to the turtle. However, the puppy was sick and likely to die.
“I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. That’s what’s been so hard in seeing all this because that’s what I’ve been taught my whole life not to let the animal suffer,” Crosland said in a recorded interview presented during the trial.
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